The Japanese Coast Guard has called off its full-time search and rescue operations for the crew members of the missing Gulf Livestock 1 as it transitions to regular patrol arrangements, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday. This decision came more than a week after the Panamanian-flagged vessel carrying 43 crew members and nearly 6,000 live cows issued a distress signal in the early hours of Sept. 2 some 100 nautical miles west of Amami Archipelago in Kagoshima, Japan. “The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), through the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo and the Philippine Consulate General in Osaka, wishes to report that the Japanese Coast Guard has decided to transition from full-time search operations for the crew of the missing vessel Gulf Livestock 1 to its usual patrol arrangements as they have found no trace of the ship since 05 September 2020,” the Foreign Affairs department said. The ship had a crew of 39 Filipinos, two New Zealand, an Australian, and a Singaporean. Two Filipino crew were rescued alive – Eduardo Sareno, 45, and Jay-Nel Rosales, 30. A third person, later identified as a Filipino national, was declared dead shortly after he was pulled off the water “unconscious” on Sept. 5. The Japanese Coast Guard halted its rescue operations when typhoon "Haishen" (called typhoon "Kristine" in the Philippines) barreled towards the area where the cattle freighter was reported missing. Sareno, the first survivor to be rescued, told probers that one of the ship's engines had stalled and the vessel was overturned by a strong wave before eventually going down. Rosales, the ship’s deckhand, was found in a life raft several kilometers from a remote island in southwestern Japan. "The DFA joins the families and loved ones in continued prayers for the missing seafarers," the DFA said.